Topic: Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. His films include The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Thelma & Louise (1991), G. I. Jane (1997), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Hannibal (2001), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), and Robin Hood (2010).

Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing, as well as Golden Globe and Emmy Awards. He was knighted in the 2003 New Year honours. In 2011, Scott is set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is the older brother of film director Tony Scott.

Scott was born in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, the son of Elizabeth and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. He was raised in an Army family, meaning that for most of his early life, his father — an officer in the Royal Engineers — was absent. Ridley's older brother, Frank, joined the Merchant Navy when he was still young and the pair had little contact. During this time the family moved around, living in (among other areas) Cumbria, Wales and Germany. He has a younger brother, Tony, also a film director. After the Second World War, the Scott family moved back to their native north-east England, eventually settling in Teesside (whose industrial landscape would later inspire similar scenes in Blade Runner). He enjoyed watching films, and his favourites include Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane and Seven Samurai. Scott studied in Teesside from 1954 to 1958, at Grangefield Grammar School and later in West Hartlepool College of Art, graduating with a Diploma in Design.